Archive for the laws Category

Yesterday, the First Circuit Court of Appeals said that the New Hampshire law banning a person from displaying a marked ballot reflecting how he or she voted including posting of those images on social media sites violates First Amendment rights of voters. The law carried up to a $1,000 fine. The appellate court determined that the law violates free speech rights protected by the First Amendment. The law was enacted to avoid vote buying and voter intimidation, what it did was spark a controversy in this social media age over the “ballot selfie”. The law, which originated in one form in 1891 was intended to combat voter intimidation and vote buying. It was amended in 1911 to forbid any voter from “allowing his ballot to be seen by any person, with the intention of letting it be known how he is about to vote.” In 2014 New Hampshire amended that statute to read:

No voter shall allow his or her ballot to be seen by any person with the intention of letting it be known how he or she is about to vote or how he or she has voted except as provided in R.S.A. 659:20. This prohibition shall include taking a digital image or photograph of his or her marked ballot and distributing or sharing the image via social media or by any other means.

The appellate court determined that just applying intermediate scrutiny the statute is unconstitutional. Intermediate scrutiny basically means that the statute has to at least be narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest. There is no proof that vote buying or voter intimidation is an actual problem in New Hampshire and there was definitely no proof that posting how you voted on Facebook or Twitter or Snapchat was going to cause any voter intimidation or vote buying and most definitely none sufficient to outweigh the First Amendment free speech rights that were being affected by the statute.

The appellate court in upholding the district court’s ruling completed its opinion with the simple adage “a picture is worth a thousand words”. You can read more about this here.

In Vermont there is no law against photographing your ballot, but since there is a law still on the books about publishing how you are going to vote, before you cast your ballot, wait to post that selfie until you have already submitted your ballot.

The Vermont legislature passed a new law, H.620 which will ensure that the costs of birth control remain free as is presently the case under the Affordable Care Act. Under the law, insurance companies in Vermont are required to provide birth control at no cost to their insureds regardless of any changes that may take place concerning the Affordable Care Act, thereby preserving this benefit for Vermonters.

The bill however went one step further and includes men in the picture. The law also requires insurance companies to not only cover permanent birth control for women but to also cover permanent birth control for males in the form of vasectomies. This law, the first in the nation to address male contraception is expected to be signed by Governor Shumlin.

The thought process behind the inclusion of males is that men are a part of the contraception and family planning, providing gender parity. Many women who no longer wish to have children may not be able to take contraceptive pills or use other methods of birth control and vasectomies provide the ability to have a permanent solution.

Once again, we need to read between the lines and maybe, just maybe, read the lines themselves, rather than let the media do the reading and interpreting for us. The new law passed in North Carolina is more than just a law regulating the use of public bathrooms in the state.

At the time of the Boston marathon bombing, we had a very interesting discussion at our dining room table to explain to the boys why, as horrible as it might seem at that time, that the suspected bomber needed to have his rights protected. The basic reason, is because they are your rights and my rights too. It is a very slippery slope that we go down when we think it’s okay to take away one person’s rights or deny one his or her rights. While it might seem perfectly fine under one circumstance (think the marathon bomber), what happens when it’s your turn and your rights that are up for grabs? Not so okay now is it? Like it or not, the rights we have apply to all of us, not just the ones that we pick and choose under the circumstances. When folks were opening up their doors to allow police to search their homes, how many invoked that wonderful little right called the 4th Amendment and said, no. No, you cannot just come into my home police, without a warrant and search it. Not now, not ever, because my constitutional rights say so.

If you actually read the new law in North Carolina, it has two parts. One part regulates the use of public restroom facilities and limits their use to a single sex based upon a person’s biological sex. The second part, entitled the Wage and Hour Act prevents any local government (read: city or town) from passing any law, ordinance or regulation that regulates the minimum wage in the state. That means that any person in North Carolina, not just transgender folks are subject to North Carolina’s whim on whether or not to raise the minimum wage. The minimum wage in North Carolina is presently $7.25 per hour. Unlike other places in the country where cities have chosen to raise the minimum wage because they recognize that living in a city may be more expensive, cities are now prohibited from any such actions.

The law addresses the minimum wage, and does not allow any local government to set a minimum wage.“The legislature took that power expressly away, so forbade any local government from raising the minimum wage beyond what federal and state law require,” Charlotte Law School Professor Brian Clarke said.

To give you an idea of why folks, all folks not just the transgender and LBGQ folks should be jumping up and down in protest, many places in the country have enacted $15 minimum wages. Realize this means that minimum wage workers in North Carolina are getting paid just about 1/2 of what other people working minimum wage jobs can get paid. Here in little tiny Vermont our minimum wage is $9.60 per hour and while that’s not great, it’s still way better than North Carolina. Do you see something wrong with what North Carolina did with this law? You should.

The law also prevents any person (read: ANY PERSON) from pursuing a state action under the law for the public policies expressed in the act which also governs employment discrimination. Guess what folks? Under the law and its line “This Article does not create, and shall not be construed to create or support, a statutory or common law private right of action, and no person may bring any civil action based upon the public policy expressed herein” seems that all persons in the state are affected. Got that? Everyone.

Have a discrimination claim based upon religion, race, color that does not fall into one of the state’s already established laws, guess what, you have no civil right to file suit in the state court according to this law. According to Charlotte School of Law professor, Brian Clark (who knows way more than little ‘ol lawyer me does) “In a very hidden way, it eliminated the ability for employees in North Carolina to file claims under state law for employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin, color and age,” Clarke said, “And that’s a right that North Carolina employees have had since 1982… and it’s gone.” Poof. Gone. Folks should be rioting in the streets.

So, people, especially those who are peppering Facebook with their very prejudiced views of the rights of the transgender community under the North Carolina law and those that are speaking out against it, perhaps you should realize that when a particular group’s rights are affected, maybe, just maybe your rights are too. Under this law, rights were affected, not just for a particular segment of the North Carolina population but for all of the North Carolina population.

See, it’s really not an us v. them mentality. People are people and under the laws of this country we are all entitled to our rights, whether or not each of us personally stands for or against the person behind the right. My kids understand this and have for some time. It’s about time that the adult population in this country realizes it too. One day, it could be your right that at stake. Remember that. Always.

Vermont’s GMO labeling law is set to take effect on July 1, 2016. You can read more about it here. National efforts to restrict Vermont and other state’s abilities to impose such labeling requirements was up for vote in the United States Senate as the more commonly known DARK (Denying Americans the Right to Know) Act. You can read more about the DARK Act here.

Today, the Senate failed to have the votes necessary to put the bill through. This puts Vermont one step closer to its labeling law going into effect on schedule in July. This is hardly however the end of the discussion on the national level.

Last week, a California federal appeals court, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that bloggers have constitutional First Amendment rights similar to journalists. Obsidian Financial Group sued blogger Cheryl Cox when she made claims of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering among other claims. They contended defamation and they won at the trial level with the blogger being slammed with a $2,500,000 damage award. Cox appealed and the federal appeals court determined that Cox, a blogger, was entitled to the same protections in her virtual arena that a paper media journalist is entitled to under the First Amendment.

According to the appellate court, statements of public concern on a blog such as those made by Cox are entitled to the protections of the First Amendment, the same as traditional print journalists enjoy.

The protections of the First Amendment do not turn on whether the defendant was a trained journalist, formally affiliated with traditional news entities, engaged in conflict-of-interest disclosure, went beyond just assembling others’ writings, or tried to get both sides of a story. As the Supreme Court has accurately warned, a First Amendment distinction between the institutional press and other speakers is unworkable: “With the advent of the Internet and the decline of print and broadcast media . . . the line between the media and others who wish to comment on political and social issues becomes far more blurred.” (Citation omitted). In defamation cases, the public-figure status of a plaintiff and the public importance of the statement at issue—not the identity of the speaker—provide the First Amendment touchstones. We therefore hold that the Gertz negligence requirement for private defamation actions is not limited to cases with institutional media defendants.

The court went on to reverse the trial court’s findings and remand the matter for a new trial.

According to the 2014 U.S. News and World Report, being a lawyer isn’t the most desirable job. In fact, it’s not in the top 10 — or the top 20 or dare I say, even the top 50. Out of the 100 jobs listed in the findings, lawyer holds the position of 51. We, as a profession, are on the bottom half of the list, not too far behind jobs such as middle school teacher and nail technician and only slightly ahead of bill collectors. Not very encouraging, is it?

But, don’t be discouraged if you are a lawyer or in law school right now since there is an upside. Paralegals are listed in the 87th spot so I guess in the legal field, it could always be worse.

To answer your burning question — the lowest on the totem pole of best jobs is painter and the job holding the #1 best job spot is software developer.

The majority of the top 25 is filled with technology, health care and engineering positions.

Is an autistic child worth approximately $85? That is the question that New York senator Chuck Schumer is proposing to the federal government. Schumer is proposing a federal law, entitled Avonte’s Law, where the federal government would pay the approximately $85 per child plus a small monthly fee which would voluntarily allow parents of autistic children the ability to track the child if the child became separated. While this might seem unnecessary to some, a fair number of autistic children are completely non-verbal or speak very little. If they wander away from parents, siblings or sitters either at home, school or in a public setting it can be difficult for the child to get assistance or for adults to find the child.

English: Charles Schumer, United States Senator from New York Español: Charles Schumer, Senador de los Estados Unidos de Nueva York (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This was the case of the missing New York child, Avonte Oquendo, the 14-year-old non-verbal autistic boy that left his school in October. Despite a large three-month search fueled by social media and the press, the child was not located and his remains were found last week in the East River. Had the young man had one of the proposed tracking devices either on his wrist or his clothing his family would have been able to locate him when he left the school in the middle of the school day.

The program that Schumer is proposing is similar to a voluntary tracking program for senior citizen who suffer from Alzheimer’s and have a tendency to wander. Under Schumer’s bill the federal funds would go to police departments who would purchase the tracking devices and have them available to give to parents who request them.

Schumer stated during a press conference to announce the bill that while we are unable to go back in time, the bill would help to ensure that the tragedy suffered by the Oquendo family does not happen to anyone else.